A stuffed casing product having at least one flat end is desirable in cases where the product is intended to be sliced and packaged for retail sales. Typically, products of this type are stuffed into a casing to a controlled diameter and then are cooked or cured according to conventional processes. Thereafter, they are sliced on an automatic slicing machine and packaged into units of predetermined weight and slice count for retail sale. The slicing devices employed in such packaging operation are preset to yield a specific weight-by-slice count for use in obtaining unit packages of equal weight.
In order to produce uniform slices for as much of the full length of the stuffed casing product as possible, it is desirable that the closed leading and/or trailing end of the stuffed product be substantially flat because rounded ends are not suited to be used for producing uniform slices for the equal weight packages sold at retail. Consequently, the round ends are sliced off and reprocessed. The reprocessed portions are called "rework".
In order to minimize the rework resulting from rounded ends, attempts have been made to flatten them by inserting flat discs into one or both ends of the casing. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,808,638 discloses inserting a disc into one end of a cut-length of casing to produce a single stuffed product having one flat end and one rounded end.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,462,793 and 4,562,617 disclose stuffing apparatus for producing food products having flat ends. The apparatus inserts a flat disc into the stuffing horn through a transverse slot. The disc is then expressed through the horn and into the casing by the food product pressing behind the disc. A limitation of this type of apparatus is that since the disc diameter must be small enough to fit through the stuffing horn, it is not effective to flatten the entire end of a product where typically the stuffed diameter is larger than the diameter of the stuffing horn.
German patent application 37 16 442 also inserts discs through a transverse slot in the stuffing horn. However, in this application each disc is made to be expandable so that when it leaves the confines of the stuffing horn, it expands to a larger diameter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,984 produces stuffed products having two flat ends using discs arranged in pairs. The discs each have a central opening to accommodate passage of the stuffing horn so the discs can be loaded onto the horn. During a stuffing operation, the discs are sequentially introduced over the stuffing horn and into a casing to permit the continuous and automatic production of a plurality of flat ended stuffed casing products from a single continuous shirred length of casing.
The system as described in the '984 Patent functioned as intended in that it accomplished the automatic and continuous production of stuffed products having two flat ends. However, the assembly of the discs in pairs as required in the '984 Patent added to the cost of the discs and the central opening did allow for some waste due to the stuffed product bulging through this opening.
Also, it was found that it was not always possible to obtain the projected rework savings when automatically slicing a stuffed product having two flat ends. This is due to limitations of the automatic slicing apparatus which is designed primarily to accommodate stuffed products having rounded ends. Consequently, in some cases, a stuffed product having one rounded end and one flat end can produce a greater rework savings than one having two flat ends.
A copending application Ser. No. 07/381,238 discloses an arrangement of annular discs useful for producing stuffed casing products having one flat end. While the disc construction is simplified compared to that disclosed in the '984 Patent, it still has a central opening which allows for some waste due to the stuffed product bulging through the opening thereby increasing the amount of rework.